A place for me to speak-out. A chance for my soul to seek...
' Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue, the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half light, I would spread the cloths under your feet;
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams '
- William Butler Yeats

Friday, May 23, 2008

Inflation breaks all the records in Zimbabwe. But it's a wonder how at this inflation-level, its economy is still surviving, the country has observed election and Robert Mugabe has lost, but still not very large scale of violence has been reported!

OUR government, along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), worries about the effect of nearing eight per cent inflation in our country. But if we see inflation data of few other countries and observe that still those economies are surviving, then we will realise that chances are that we may say, “Hey we are very comfortable as far as inflation is concerned.” There are a number of countries that are having inflation rate much more than ours, but still those economies are alive.

Inflation in Zimbabwe has broken all the records and is first such country of the list where inflation has reached to an uncountable percentage. Name of Zimbabwe will probably appear in the Guinness Book of World Records. In March 2008, inflation was 3,55,000 per cent, which was the double of the inflation in February 2008, when it was 1, 65,000 per cent. We have to say thanks to the Country’s Central Bank (CCB) and the people who are involved in inflation calculation. How they are able to calculate the 3, 55,000 per cent inflation is out of the intelligence of normal people.

What does this level of inflation in Zimbabwe mean to the poor residents of the country? It means that Zimbabweans are purchasing a sandwich for Zimbabwean $50 million, sounds crazy? One kg of potatoes cost Zimbabwean $17 million. Effectively, this means that the value of Zimbabwean dollar has reached almost to zero. Hence 50-million Zimbabwean dollar equals to only1 US$… really only one US$. And also, 50 million Zimbabwean dollar equals to almost 42 Indian rupees.

On May 2, 2008, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) issued currency note of 500 million dollars, which had an expiry date. Once again a crazy talk? But true, the Zimbabwean $50, 0000000.00 will be a bearer cheque with validity up to December 31, 2008. After December 31, 2008, no body can accept it.

Zimbabwe is a country, which has reached a state of laissez-faire with more than 80 per cent of people unemployed. But it is really a wonder that how at this level of inflation, the economy of Zimbabwe is still surviving, banks are still working, accountings are still being done, the country has observed election and Robert Mugabe has lost, but still not very large scale of violence has been reported!

Iraq is the second country of the world, which has registered the highest inflation of 53.2 per cent. Thanks to the USA and its ruthless policy, which has forced the one-time growing and developing Iraq to a war-trodden country. 53.2 per cent inflation in Iraq has crippled its economy.

Another country in the list is Guinea with a whooping 30.9 per cent inflation. Irony is that Guinea is the country blessed with rich mineral resources, gold, diamond and huge iron ore deposits, but is still one of the poorest countries of the world!Yemen is the other country, which is suffering from high inflation – as high as 20.8 per cent. The country is having more than 87 per cent of poor population. Recently in news due to ‘Nargis’ cyclone, which has taken lives of more than one lakh of people, Myanmar is also not far behind and more than 20 per cent of inflation. Military Junta is so vicious that it is putting lot of obstacles in sending any help to the cyclone hit people by world community. Erstwhile Soviet nation country, Uzbekistan, is also having a high inflation of 19.8 per cent. Another African country, Congo, is struggling with 18.2 per cent inflation. Afghanistan, the country, which is trying to recuperate of the war, is having inflation more than17 per cent. Serbia is having inflation of 15.5 per cent.

Most of the countries, which are struggling with very high inflation, are also named among the poor countries of the world. Inflation hit hard to the poor people and the poor countries too. Most of the inflation hit countries are African countries, which are either war-trodden or suffering from other economic or social crisis.

a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars

By Angus Shaw

Harare - Weary Zimbabweans are facing a new wave of price increases that will put many basic goods even further out of their reach: A loaf of bread now costs what 12 new cars did a decade ago. Independent finance houses said in an assessment Tuesday that annual inflation rose this month to 1,063,572 percent based on prices of a basket of basic foodstuffs. Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about 5 million percent by October. As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars. And fresh price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.

The economy was on shop clerk Jessica Rukuni's mind as she left the public swimming pool in downtown Harare's central park with three disappointed children. She found the new admission price of 100 million Zimbabwe dollars - 30 US cents - out of reach. "The point is that it's far too much for most people who don't get US dollars," she said. Her income is the equivalent of about one US dollar a day, and her family has one basic meal daily. The collapsing economy was a major concern of voters who dealt longtime President Robert Mugabe a defeat in March 29 elections. His challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, topped the poll but did not win the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff. The two face each other in a second round June 27. Mugabe was to officially launch his runoff campaign with a rally at his party's headquarters in Harare on Sunday, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.

The opposition's campaigning has been hampered by violence blamed on Mugabe's government and party. The opposition claims Tsvangirai is the target of a government assassination plot and he has been out of Zimbabwe since shortly after the March 29 first round. He plans to return to Zimbabwe to campaign for the runoff once security measures are in place, his aides have said. Mugabe, speaking as he reviewed graduating police cadets Wednesday, said the opposition was fanning violence. Independent observers have said that while there have been some retaliatory attacks by the opposition, the vast majority of the attacks have been carried out by Mugabe supporters. Mugabe accuses the United States, the European Union and especially former colonial ruler Britain of using their economic influence to back his opponents and bring about his ouster. He has severed ties with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial organizations.

Zimbabwe's official annual inflation was given by the government as 165,000 percent in February, already by far the highest in the world. The government has not updated that - the state statistical service has said there were not enough goods in the shortages-stricken shops to calculate new figures. The economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector following the often violent seizures of farmland from whites. Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists. "The crunch is going to come when local money is eroded to the point it is no longer acceptable" in commercial activities or as earnings, especially by longtime ruler Mugabe's loyalists, said independent Harare economist John Robertson. Already, more transactions are being done in US dollars, both openly and in secret. Manufacturing industries, running at below 30 percent of their capacity, reported growing absenteeism by workers facing soaring commuter bus fares.

Well i still can't imagine how a life would be under these circumstances... When we at India fight to curb even at 10% and most western countries fighting it out at less than 5%, one million is total anarchy..... Seems Mugabe is unwilling to quit whatsoever happens there.. How do the citizens survive ?? When america voicing for global peace and prosperity why can't they help with their hand out.... Probably they dont have any oil resouces do they ???

Harare - Weary Zimbabweans are facing a new wave of massive price increases that put many basic goods out of their reach. Independent finance houses said in an assessment Tuesday that annual inflation rose this month to 1 063 572% based on prices of a basket of basic foodstuffs.

As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1bn Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars. A loaf of bread cost 200m Zimbabwe dollars - enough for 12 new cars a decade ago.

Fresh price rises were expected after the state Grain Marketing Board announced up to 25-fold increases in its prices to commercial millers for wheat and the corn meal staple.

The economy was on shop clerk Jessica Rukuni's mind as she left the public swimming pool in downtown Harare's central park with three disappointed children. She found the new admission price of 100m Zimbabwe dollars - 30 US cents - out of reach.

The divorcee's income is the equivalent of about one US dollar a day. Her family has one basic meal a day. One kilogram of chicken more than doubled to 1nb local dollars Tuesday and rental for a two-bedroom apartment rose from this month's end to 22bn Zimbabwe dollars - eight times the May price.

Inflation will reach 5m%

The state Rent Board, where unfair or inflated rental hikes are reported, has had no working telephones for several months, a telephone operator at the Ministry of Housing said.

Economic analysts say unless the rate of inflation is slowed, annual inflation will likely reach about 5m percent by October. Zimbabwe's official annual inflation was given by the government as 165 000% in February, already by far the highest in the world.

"The crunch is going to come when local money is eroded to the point it is no longer acceptable" in commercial activities or as earnings, especially by longtime ruler pres. Robert Mugabe's loyalists, said independent Harare economist John Robertson.

Already, more transactions are being done in US dollars, both openly and in secret. Robertson said sectors of the economy - phone services, the supply chain, maintenance of equipment or manufacturing - may collapse one at a time, but a country continues to exist even in chaos or anarchy.

"In the end, a country must fall into line with international financial standards to balance its books" as experience in once-inflationary Latin American countries has shown, he said. He said that meant re-engaging with international financial institutions, lenders, donors and investors traditionally dominated globally by Western countries, the main source of hard currency.

Mugabe has severed ties with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial organisations. But Mugabe's "Look East" policy to attract trade and investment from China and Asia has yielded a fraction of what is needed to halt inflation.

In the fastest shrinking economy outside a conventional war zone, much of the nation's crucial savings have been used up in government borrowing and spending without corresponding productive income. "It is as though a starving man has eaten his left foot and starts eating his right foot to survive in the short term," Robertson said. - Sapa-AP

ZIMBABWE’s inflation rate has hit one million percent, a number that beggars belief and signals the end of that country’s formal economy.

It is simply no longer possible to place a price on anything because it is rising by the minute and all purchases now become acts of negotiation or bartering.

The unimaginable number — 1 063 572 percent, to be exact (21 May 2008) — is not a thumbsuck. It is the considered opinion of independent finance houses, reports wire service Sapa.

“As stores opened for business Wednesday, a small pack of locally produced coffee beans cost just short of 1bn Zimbabwe dollars. A decade ago, that sum would have bought 60 new cars.”

Other statistics throw the economic crisis into sharp relief:

A loaf of bread cost 200 million Zimbabwe dollars at the time the story was written. It will be much more by the time you read this.

A number in the region of 5 million percent is being predicted for October.

Government’s official figure for February was already 165 000 percent, the highest in the world, the report said.

The fact that refugees from xenophobic violence in South Africa are preparing to return to a country where the economy is in such a parlous state is testimony to the hell they have experienced in this country.

But Zimbabwe’s economic ruin, its gerrymandering of electoral processes, its purchase of vast amounts of Chinese armaments and its human rights abuses remain acceptable to South Africa’s political elite.

Why else would President Thabo Mbeki regularly visit Mugabe in Harare? Why else would South Africa say that the arms transaction which had the world aghast took place “between two sovereign nations”?

The reality is that this country is paying a heavy price for Zimbabwe’s failure. A price that is growing with every day of dithering.